In comprehensive overviews, scholars at the forefront of biblical studies and law address three foci: (1) biblical law itself—its nature, collections, and genres; (2) the ancient contexts of biblical law, throughout the ancient Mediterranean (ancient Near Eastern, Greco-Roman, and Early Jewish); and (3) the afterlife and influence of biblical law in antiquity and in modern jurisprudence around the world. Essays include treatments of the Book of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, Greek Law, and the Laws of Hammurapi, but also testimony and witness, property, ritual, rhetoric, gender, and sexual legislation.

The Encyclopedia contains 130 entries ranging in length from 3,000 to 7,000 words.

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